The Bronx Stop: A Yankees Blog

This came yesterday from Tyler Kepner:

Manager Joe Girardi never looks good after a loss, but he looked weary after Phil Hughes imploded and the Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 6-4, on Tuesday night. Hughes was pounded for six runs and eight hits in three and two thirds innings.

When Girardi was asked about Hughes’s future in the rotation, he tried to deflect the questions by saying the Yankees would make those types of decisions as an organization. But, after the third or fourth time Girardi was asked about Hughes, he gave, perhaps, his most revealing answer.

“Right now, he’s one of our starters,” Girardi said. “We will talk about it as a club.”

If I were Hughes, the words “right now,” wouldn’t make me feel comfortable right now. Hughes is 0-4 with a 9.00 earned run average in his first six starts, brutal statistics. Girardi lamented how Hughes was not precise with his pitches.

“Obviously, he’s frustrated because he knows he can pitch better,” Girardi said.

Hughes said his troubles were “one of those things you got to work out.” So I asked Hughes if he trusted that the Yankees would allow him to make those revisions at the major league level.

“I hope so,” he said. “It’s not my decision. It’s nothing I can control on that front. I have to come to the field, work hard every day and hope there is a turn for the better.”

And now this from the Yankees (make up your own mind on whether Phil is hurt or not...):

Yankees right-hander Phil Hughes has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right oblique.

The team made the announcement during Wednesday's game against the Tigers.

Hughes, the youngest pitcher in the Major Leagues at 21, took a pounding in the Yankees' 6-4 loss to the Tigers at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday.

Hughes, 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in six starts this month, was next scheduled to start against the Mariners on Sunday. The Yankees did not immediately announce a substitute probable pitcher for that game.